Over the past 125 years, The Woman’s Board has lent crucial support to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and has positively affected a great many patients and community partners. The Board’s significant philanthropic endeavors include the following:

  • In April 2020, to help Northwestern Medicine respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Woman’s Board contributed a lead gift of $350,000 to the Northwestern Medicine COVID-19 Relief Fund. This fund supports patients, staff and their families, and enables Northwestern Medicine to continue its rapid and innovative response to COVID-19.
  • In April 2019, as part of its 10-year $7 million pledge to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, The Woman’s Board granted $500,000 to the EDGe Program, which provides a comprehensive care model for patients who have been identified through genetic testing as having higher risks for cancer. The clinical services will consist of genetics experts, imaging and laboratory services, interdisciplinary medical and surgical specialists dedicated to early detection and prevention of cancer.
  • In December 2017, as part of a 10-year $7 million pledge to Northwestern Memorial, The Woman’s Board committed $700,000 to study collaborative mental health care in Northwestern Medicine’s 13 primary care clinics in Chicago. Through this study, The Woman’s Board is helping to improve access to mental health care in our community.
  • In January 2017, The Woman’s Board celebrated its 120th anniversary as an organization. To commemorate this milestone, The Woman’s Board made a special contribution of $120,000 to the Northwestern Medicine Developmental Therapeutics Program, which promotes multidisciplinary efforts to develop new cancer medications and other innovative therapies.
  • In December 2016, The Woman’s Board pledged $7 million over ten years to support research programs and patient care initiatives at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, including continued support for the Women’s HIV Program, the Nora Cooney Marra Compassionate Care Awards, and the Eleanor Wood-Prince Grants Initiative. This pledge allows for a major funding commitment to be designated every two years beginning in spring 2018.
  • In 2014, The Woman’s Board made a $500,000 gift to advance transplantation breakthroughs at Northwestern Medicine’s Comprehensive Transplant Center. This gift launched a successful Phase I clinical trial led by transplant researcher and surgeon Joseph Leventhal, MD, PhD ultimately aimed at enabling organ recipients to live completely free of anti-rejection medication by using a patient’s own immune regulatory cells.
  • Since 2014, The Woman’s Board has sponsored Music Matters, a new program managed by the hospital’s Volunteer Services, through which employees and professional and amateur musicians volunteer their talents to bring live music to patients.
  • In 2013, The Woman’s Board made a five-year pledge of $3 million in support of several pivotal efforts at Northwestern. The majority of the pledge ($2 million) is directed to the Northwestern Medicine Developmental Therapeutics Institute, which promotes multidisciplinary efforts to develop new cancer medications and other innovative therapies.
  • In 2012, The Woman’s Board completed a $1 million two-year pledge to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, successfully establishing The Woman’s Board Cardiovascular Education Initiative in partnership with Northwestern Medicine’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.
  • Beginning in 2010, The Woman’s Board partnered with MK Pritzker to host the Evergreen Invitational, a biennial premier show jumping equestrian event that raises crucial funds for a variety of traditionally underfunded women’s health initiatives at Prentice Women’s Hospital and its community partners through the Evergreen Grants Initiative. To date, the Evergreen Grants have awarded almost $3.3 million to 63 patient care initiatives.
  • In 2009, The Woman’s Board donated $100,000 to support Advanced Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice. An additional gift of $275,000 was directed to Dr. John G. Csernansky’s work at The Norman and Ida Stone Institute of Psychiatry: A Study on Brain Function and Emotion Throughout the Life Cycle in Women.
  • In December 2008, The Woman’s Board donated $285,000 to establish The Woman’s Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital Fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology, designed to train physicians who have completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and who are interested in pursuing careers in academic Gynecologic Oncology.
  • In December 2004, The Woman’s Board made a $2.5 million five-year pledge to Enhancing our Lives: The Northwestern Memorial Campaign. A total of $1.5 million from this campaign pledge was used to name the 14th floor of the new Prentice Women’s Hospital, a medical-surgical floor for women who require hospitalization for non-maternity health issues, and to support programs in women’s health.
  • From 2003 to 2010, The Woman’s Board sponsored the Boogie Ball. A spring event, the Boogie Ball raised funds for a selected hospital endeavor. The Boogie Ball’s proceeds have supported the following medical initiatives in amounts ranging from $50,000 to $150,000:
    • 2003 — The National Ovarian Cancer Early Detection Program
    • 2004 — Dr. John A. Kessler’s Stem Cell Research Program
    • 2005 — Establishment of the Stroke Rapid Recognition and Rapid Response Program
    • 2006 — Program for Brain Tumor Patients and their Families
    • 2007 — Heart Disease in Women research project by Dr. Martha Gulati and Dr. Neil Stone
    • 2008 — New transportation vans serving the needs of patients of Near North Health Service Corporation and the Erie Family Health Center (community partners of NMH)
    • 2010 — Lung Cancer Research Program in Women by Dr. Jyoti Patel
  • Established in 2001, the Eleanor Wood-Prince Grant Initiative is a unique, competitive grants program administered by The Woman’s Board and Northwestern Memorial Foundation, which annually awards a total of $100,000 (a maximum of $25,000 per grant) to four or more leading-edge research studies or innovative patient care projects. To date, more than $1.6 million has been awarded for 70 research projects.
  • In 1994, The Woman’s Board began a long-standing relationship with the Women’s Comprehensive HIV Clinic and became one of the first philanthropic groups to fund an HIV related clinic with a pledge of $400,000. The Board is proud to continue its relationship with the Clinic through financial support of the Clinic and by hosting the Clinic’s annual holiday party.
  • Established in 1991 by an endowed gift from The Woman’s Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the Nora Cooney Marra Compassionate Care Awards recognize individuals who serve as role models for the humanistic and compassionate care of cancer patients.